Cross Country Bears Host Races, Show Off Talented Freshmen

The University of Central Arkansas’ cross country team hosted the XC Challenge at Beaverfork Lake on Sept. 10.

The meet began at 9 a.m. with the women running a 4,000-meter course, followed by the men’s team running a 6,000-meter race at 9:30 a.m.

At the last meet, the women’s team competed in the Memphis Twilight at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex in Memphis, placing in seventh place.

During this meet, the women’s team won the 4,000-meter and the men won the 6,000-meter. For the women, senior Brigette Caruthers won the 4K race in a time of 14:23.8 and sophomore Markus Schweikert won the 6K race for the men’s team with a time of 18:42.7.

“I told my coach I wanted to win, and we knew there were some fast Harding girls in the race as well. I just wanted to go out strong and see what I could handle. I was running scared the whole time, you never know when someone is going to catch up to you. When you get comfortable, that’s when you get caught,” Caruthers said.

The Central Arkansas women’s cross country team finished with five runners in the top 10 and a score of 27. Sophomore Taylor Dunn finished third with a time of 14:45.1, followed by junior Abigail Topham in sixth place with a time of 15:13.9, then freshman Erin Woodward in seventh (15:24.0) and junior Addy Swaim in 10th (15:28.0).

“I felt pretty good, races like this get me pretty ready for conference. I wasn’t expecting anything I had more personal goals, like trying to stick with Brigette [Caruthers], help her out and I just ended being at the front. Once I was there I was like I’m holding third no one is passing me,” Dunn said.

Junior Abbey Foreman came in 12th place at 15:28.7, then came sophomore Sara Shaw in 14th place with a time of 15:30.5, next was senior Abbie Linna in 16th place with a time of 15:36.5.

“My top three ran very well, they ran sub 15 minutes. I was very proud of the young ladies, we worked real hard this week. We’re training to get better in October at our conference championship,” coach John Jones said.

“I felt like everyone did good, I feel like everyone push to their best, everyone gave all full effort, it went well,” Lange said. “I was kind of nervous going into this meet but it turned out all right. We are a great team; we are pretty stacked as far as girls go. I’m excited to see how conference goes,” Sellars said.

The next meet will be at the Rhodes Invitational in Memphis on Saturday, September 17.